Veterans Day ceremony honors Weld County’s Vietnam War veterans

Maj. Gen. H. Michael Edwards said Friday 626 soldiers from Colorado died in the Vietnam War. Twenty-seven of them were from Weld County, and one is still missing in action.

According to Weld County resident John Penfold, Gary Dennis Thaden of Brighton also died during the Vietnam War. Thaden’s name is not usually included in the list of Weld County’s Vietnam casualties, as he lived on the border between Weld and Adams counties. Penfold said Thaden served with the other Weld County soldiers though, and asked he be remembered.

Larry Brandt still remembers protesters spitting at him.

It happened decades ago, during the Vietnam War. Back then, Brandt set up mobile communication stations as an electrician. He didn't serve in Vietnam; he was stationed in the Philippines. But he was active between 1967-71, and he came home wearing a military uniform. That was all it took.

"You almost had to hide," Brandt said.

Brandt's experience was one many U.S. soldiers shared coming home from Vietnam. Antiwar sentiment was strong by the late 1960s, and protests against the conflict were common.

Maj. Gen. H. Michael Edwards addressed those experiences in a speech he gave during the Veterans Day ceremony Friday morning at the Veterans Memorial in Bittersweet Park, 35th Avenue and 16th Street in Greeley.

"For whatever reason, many of those demonstrations stopped being against the war and started being against the military," Edwards said. "They were misfocused in what they were doing."

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Friday's ceremony was sponsored by the Veterans Memorial Committee, and this year was the first year in a few to actually take place at the memorial on a clear, crisp day. The memorial's bleachers were full, and the crowd spilled onto the grass behind. Most people carried small American flags and red paper poppies.

Brandt was among those standing on the hems of the audience. In the 45 years since he retired from the military, he has become a Seventh-day Adventist. He was handing out books about Desmond Doss, the famed Seventh-day Adventist who joined the military in World War II but stayed true to the sect's principles by refusing to carry a weapon.

Brandt said even though Seventh-day Adventists can't actively fight in war, they can do other jobs in the military, such as working as cooks and electricians.

"Every chance I get when I see someone with a veteran's hat on, I thank them for their service," Brandt said.

Those are words he himself didn't hear for a long time.

"I think it was about 20 years ago when someone I was talking to thanked me for my service," he said. "It was the first time in 20 years I'd heard that. Now it's a conversation starter."

The crowd Friday proved how times have changed. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. In honor of that milestone, speakers read the names of Weld County's 27 soldiers who died in the Vietnam War, as well as the one still missing in action. They paused after each name for the ripple of applause that followed.

"Vietnam veterans made sure future members of the military were never treated the way they were," Edwards said. "Today, you can't walk anywhere in uniform without someone stopping you and saying, 'Thank you for your service.' "

Joe Shortino was one of those who wanted to say thank you. He stood behind the bleachers while Edwards spoke. An enormous wooden cross, topped with a crown of thorns, rested on one shoulder. For three years he's been walking around America with that cross. He said God called him away from a six-figure job to do it.

He attends Veterans Day ceremonies wherever he happens to be that year — last year he was in California.

"My heart goes out to the vets, but also to their families," he said. "They sacrifice too."

The cross Shortino carries is topped with two flags — an American flag and a POW/MIA flag. He received the American flag on the Fourth of July one year in Texas. A veteran in Arizona gave him the POW/MIA flag.

He said he prayed over the idea of putting the second flag on the cross, and decided God wanted him to.

"It's time for those of us who aren't veterans to thank those of us who are," he said.

Colorado Casualties

Maj. Gen. H. Michael Edwards said Friday 626 soldiers from Colorado died in the Vietnam War. Twenty-seven of them were from Weld County, and one is still missing in action.

According to Weld County resident John Penfold, Gary Dennis Thaden of Brighton also died during the Vietnam War. Thaden’s name is not usually included in the list of Weld County’s Vietnam casualties, as he lived on the border between Weld and Adams counties. Penfold said Thaden served with the other Weld County soldiers though, and asked he be remembered.